


Hello There

by fangirl_outlet



Series: TROS Fix-It oneshots [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Post Rise of Skywalker, Timey-wimey force, WBW, World Between Worlds, ben needs a hug, twist the knife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25228573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_outlet/pseuds/fangirl_outlet
Summary: Ben is lost among the stars. He doesn’t know where or when he is, all he knows he’s alone.Until someone finds him, and is going to help lead him home.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: TROS Fix-It oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1585318
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Hello There

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twothatareone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twothatareone/gifts).



Ben was growing used to the quiet. Well, more like he was getting used to the voices from kriff knows when echoing around him. They were becoming more like white noise, something to tune out, fade into nothing like the empty space around him. 

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting here for. He didn’t know how long he had been stumbling around before that either; looking around at blank portals. But, he figured, maybe time didn’t matter here. Maybe nothing mattered. Nothing outside of this vast void that he was imprisoned in. 

Normally, he was good at figuring out puzzles. He enjoyed them. Probably too much, or at least that’s what his father always said with a smile on his face. But this...this wasn’t a puzzle he was going to be able to solve. The existential question of space, time, life, death -- real easy stuff. 

But, still...he had the time. 

So he sat there, drowning out whispers all around him, and tried to meditate -- his thoughts drifting to hazel eyes and a spackling of freckles on tan skin and a soft smile -- and missed the slight shift in the energy around him. The silent footsteps making ripples in the force. 

“Hello there!” 

The crisp accent sent Ben tumbling out of his pose; a wild tangle of legs and arms. With his face still planted on the ground, Ben peered up at the tall stretch of white robes standing in front of him. Wearing them was an old man, with a stark white beard and deep wrinkles. 

“Hello?” Ben propped himself back up, curious at the new development. Maybe this was the ‘You’re officially dead’ welcoming party. “I wasn’t expecting company.”

“No,” the old man chuckled. It was weirdly familiar, in some long forgotten way Ben couldn’t quite put his finger on. “No, I don’t expect you were, Ben.” 

“How do you know my name?” 

Another smile wrinkled the old man’s eyes. “Ah, I guess you can just call me ‘Old Ben.’”

_Obi Wan Kenobi._ Ben’s jaw dropped -- awestruck. **_The_ ** _Obi Wan Kenobi._

“You--you’re -- I’m--”

“Yes, your sweet mother named you after me,” Old Ben explained. “But I don’t think my life made for very many good bedtime stories.” 

Ben was pretty sure his brain was short circuiting. Maybe this was all part of fading into the force. Hallucinations from childhood giants. 

How many times had he complained about that -- _Ben._ It was only three letters. But it wasn’t _his_ name. It was Obi Wan Kenobi’s name. The legend. The hero. Everything he wasn’t. Everything everyone expected from him. 

Until it fell from Rey’s lips…

“But you’re dead.” 

“No -- I mean, yes, _technically_ \--” Ben Kenobi scratched his beard for a bit as he thought over his next words, “But there’s a lot more than just life and death in the Force, my boy. You’re proof of that.”

“I am?” 

Kenobi frowned. “You were a lot more perceptive on the other side of the veil…” 

_Let the past die…it’s the only way to become who you were meant to be…._

That was him. That was _his_ voice. 

Old Ben cocked his head at the echo, but then jumped into action -- urging Ben off the subatomic ground and down a path to their right. 

“Hurry, hurry there’s not much time,” the old man was rushing ahead now, not looking back to see if Ben was keeping up. Their footsteps sent glowing white ripples through the pathway. “You need to see this.” 

“Do you know where we are? Do you know what’s happening?” the frantic pace they were at apparently had jump started his brain again and there were too many questions to get out -- now, right at this very minute. “Why are there voices? What do you mean by veil?”

But all the questions died on his tongue the moment he realized where Kenobi was leading him. 

This portal was different from the others. It glowed to life at their presence, flickering until an image appeared. An image of a girl, in dingy white clothes, soaking wet and shivering at the edge of a dark pond. Moonlight streamed in from a hole far above, falling around her like a halo. 

“Let me see them,” there were tears in the corners of her eyes, but when she reached her hand out, it was steady, sure of itself. “My parents.” 

Ben broke out into a run, passing Kenobi quickly, until the ground beneath him turned to water and the inky black void materialized into stone walls. He waded through it, unphased by the bitter cold of it stinging his skin, and clamored up onto the shore on the other side. 

Rey was there. Right there. They were separated only by a thin veil of glass.

The air buzzed around him as he inched closer to the tips of her fingers, her tiny calluses pressed against the clear wall. He could feel the glass vibrate, shudder now that he was only a breath away. The sheer force of his bond with Rey reverberated in the time and space compressed between them.

He could do it. She was there, right there at the tip of his fingers. He lifted his hand up, slowly. All he had to do was press down and the glass the would shatter, he’d be free and with her and he could fix everything and she wou--

She would never be the same. 

“Ben,” Kenobi came up right behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. 

If he reached out now, escaped from this prison into his past, Rey would never reach out to him as Kylo Ren. She’d never come for him on Snoke’s stardestroyer, never fight for her life alongside him. Never realize the truth. Never choose herself. Never train with his mother. Never confront fear and evil itself. Never go back to FN or her gaggle of resistance friends. Or the Wookie that loved her. 

Ben snatched his hand back just as the veil began to lift, branded by the weight of what he almost did. 

He followed her to the ground, both of them hissing in unison as the cold cavern floor dug into their knees. 

“Stay here,” he promised her. “I’ll come back for you sweetheart. I promise.”

His head hung low, hand cradled to his chest. The tears -- hot and heavy -- stung at his eyes.

“You made the right choice Ben,” Kenobi kneeled beside him. “Unfortunately, the right choice usually tends to be the most painful.”

“Please tell me there’s  _ something _ I can do,” Ben mumbled, his head still buried in his arms. 

“That’s why I’m here Ben. That’s why I’m here.” 

  
  
  



End file.
